A Correlational Study On English Reading Anxiety, Reading Strategies And Reading Achievements Of Non-english Majors

During the process of second language acquisition, the influence that the individual differences of the learners to foreign language learning has always been the point that the foreign language researchers focus on. The individual apprehension factor, as an important part of individual differences of learners, is paid more attention. Anxiety is an important aspect of the analysis of emotional factors during the process of second language acquisition, and it is the study focus of the foreign language researchers as well. Horwitz got involved in this field firstly and put forward the concept of “Foreign Language Learning Anxiety” in 1986. After that, foreign language learning anxiety has been keeping a more watchful eye, and the research did by the scholars from home and abroad become more and more deep. However, most of the researches only take “foreign language learning anxiety” as the theoretical background, but don’t extend to a specific learning aspect, such as listening, reading, writing etc., which lack of direction. Until 1999, Saito put forward the concept of “Foreign Language Reading Anxiety”, pointing out that there is a relationship between “Foreign Language Learning Anxiety” and “Foreign Language Reading Anxiety”, but the former is different from the latter. Although recently the number of the domestic researches in foreign language reading anxiety is much more than before, and some of them are about the correlations among foreign language anxiety, reading strategies and reading achievements, most of them just make a Pearson correlation analysis. It is not very completed in the aspect of data analysis.This research aims to study the correlations among English reading anxiety, reading strategies and reading achievements, and takes Rogers’ s Humanistic Psychology, Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis and Rod Ellis’ s Framework concerned with individual learner difference as the theoretical foundations. It examines the 101 freshmen major in law in Zhixing College of Northwest Normal University through Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale(FLRAS), English Reading Strategy Scale(ERSS) and the reading comprehension test(authentic reading material of CET-4 in Dec, 2012). The data is input, sort out and analyzed by SPSS19.0. This thesis employs the Exploratory Factor Analysis, further analyzes the sources of foreign language reading anxiety through the Principal Component Analysis, and employing the Multiple Linear Regression to study the correlations among English reading anxiety, reading strategies and reading achievements. Two standardized regression formulations are worked out finally. These are the innovations of this thesis as well.On the basis of the systematic Descriptive Analysis and the Exploratory Factor Analysis on the state of English reading anxiety, the employment of reading strategies and reading achievements, the research explores the correlations between English reading anxiety and the employment of reading strategies, English reading anxiety and reading achievements, as well as the employment of reading strategies and reading achievements through correlation analysis. Moreover, the Multiple Linear Regression is applied to indicate the correlations among English reading anxiety, reading strategies and reading achievements. The results show that the general state of English reading anxiety of the subjects is serious, they can’t employ the reading strategies flexible and their reading achievements are lower as well. In addition, English reading anxiety and the employment of reading strategies, English reading anxiety and reading achievements both have significant negative correlations. However, English reading strategies and reading achievements have significant positive correlations. Meanwhile, English reading anxiety and the employment of reading strategies effect on reading achievements significantly.The results of the research provide basis on the practice and reform of the college English in dependent colleges. In everyday teaching activities, teachers should take measures to lower the students’ anxiety, run the reading strategy through the whole English teaching process, develop the appropriate conscious in employing the reading strategies, and try their best to lower the negative effect of the English reading anxiety. Meanwhile, teachers should broaden students’ knowledge and horizon, develop the interests to English learning, improve their self-confidence and make students achieve good performance in English reading.